Orion successfully conducted an outbound powered flyby burn at 7:44 a.m. to accelerate the spacecraft, harness the force from the Moon’s gravity, and direct Orion toward a distant retrograde orbit beyond the Moon. During the maneuver, Orion made its closest lunar approach, flying about 81 miles above the lunar surface.

Following a successful launch atop NASA’s Space Launch System rocket at 1:47 a.m. EST Wednesday, Nov. 16, Orion will travel approximately 40,000 miles beyond the Moon and back to Earth as the first Artemis mission. Artemis includes a series of increasingly complex missions that will enable human exploration at the Moon where the agency will prepare for future missions with crew to Mars.

NASA release